The world has faced numerous devastating crises throughout the history- natural, economic or war-related. To number the crises according to the aftereffects as the most devastating event is quite difficult. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica 5 of the World’s Most Devastating Financial Crises are The Credit Crisis of 1772, The Great Depression of 1929–39, The OPEC Oil Price Shock of 1973, The Asian Crisis of 1997, and the Financial Crisis of 2007–08, though the list is not comprehensive.

The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008

The Financial Crisis of 2007-2008, the 2008 Financial Crisis or the Global Financial Crisis is the most severe economic crisis since Great depression and it sparked the Great recession. The collapse of the housing bubble in the U.S. triggered the collapse of the Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks in the world, and put many important business and financial institutions on the verge of collapse. The situation needed government bailouts and it came back to normal almost after a decade.

The Asian Financial Crisis

The Asian Financial Crisis started in July, 1997 in Thailand. The crisis started when the Government was forced to float the Thai Baht (the official currency of Thailand) due to deprivation of foreign currency to sustain its currency peg to the U.S. Dollar. As a consequence capital flight accompanied. Thailand had obtained enormous foreign debt and the country soon became bankrupt. There was an international chain reaction and Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Indonesia and Japan perceived collapsing currencies, rise in personal debt and devalued stock market prices. The crisis was ultimately resolved as International Monetary Fund (IMF) intervened and offered the loans required to stabilize the trembling Asian economics. IMF lends more than 110 Dollars to Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea to stabilize the financial crisis.

OPEC Oil Price Shock

It was in 1973 October when the (OPEC) Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries announced an oil impediment. It was arrowed against the countries that endorsed Israel while the war of Yom Kippur was going on. The USA, Japan, Canada, the UK and the Netherlands were the primary target. Later it expanded to Rhodesia, South Africa and Portugal. The shock happened after this embargo was later termed as the “first oil shock” while the 1979 oil crisis was categorized as the “second oil-shock”.

Credit Crisis of 1772

The Credit Crisis of 1772, also known as the Panic of 1772, started in London when Fordyce, a member of the (London Banking House partner) Down and Fordyce, James, and Neal fled to France in order to avoid repaying debt. As a consequence the firm collapsed which stirred up panic in London. The panic spread across Europe, especially to Scotland and Netherlands. The credit system got paralyzed and people tried withdrawing all their deposits. Twenty banking houses went bankrupt as a result. This was an instance of peacetime economic depression.

The Great Depression of 1929

The Great Depression of 1929 began in the United States after a major fall in stock prices around 4th September, 1929. Later the stock market crashed on October 29 of the same year, also known as Black Tuesday. The worldwide Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell by an estimated 15% between 1929 and 1932. It was a devastating financial depression which affected countries both rich and poor. Why did this depression happen is the centre of much debate. The two classic leading theories of the Great Depression are Monetarist theory and Keynesian theory. There are also some theories which contradict with these two.

Certainly, it is not a complete and substantial list of most devastating economic events across the globe; but at least one that gives us a gist of what happened in the past.

Welcome to Castro’s “One Man Show”, the longest running show on Earth, 47 years. This show is an exhibit of cruelty and cowardliness from a futile leader who has converted Cuba into a total inhumane disgrace. There he is pointing his senile finger around and shaking his head, sluggishly up and down, like he was the victim, again. Oh yes, leading about one million dumbfounded, uncomfortable, so-called protesters to the perimeter of the US Diplomatic Building. These so-called demonstrators, of course, have been rewarded and accommodated with food and returnable t-shirts for their appearance on the day/night protest. It seems to me that he is always surrounded by the same people accompanying him, his loyal body armor of military police with their families. All this mayhem is for a ticket-tape sign located and running across the 5th floor of the “freedom” Building in Havana, Cuba. Castro since then has taken swift steps by organizing a round-the-clock construction project of building a “Wall” of flagpoles pressed closed together to block the view of the building. Fidel is now beginning to draw closer to the end of his show and now has begun to construct a self-inflicting, self-defeating wall around his lonesome self. He is demonstrating to the world that he is losing his grip of tortured Cuba and that no one really cares anymore for his phony antics. This is very unfortunate for him because the Cuban people are not interested in his conniving ideals anymore and his untrustworthy promises. Castro has actually begun to build an island around himself now and the island is Cuba. With all of these televised staged events, the media has more camera access to the “Real” Cuba, we need more media coverage of Castro’s One Man Shows.

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The electronic sign started flashing messages across the building on January 16, Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday. The first message that scrolled across was “I have a dream, that one day this nation will rise up”. Martin Luther King’s Speech. As Castro was talking all his rhetoric, there were quotes from Lech Wallesa scrolling across the building also, you see, its “Déjà Vu” again, for the formidable Mr. Wallesa who had a live videoconference with Cuban dissidents arranged by the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba, Michael Parmly from his home in Cuba. This was 5 days before the U.S. Interests Section set up the ticker itself. There were famous quotes from Lincoln also, not to mention news from around the world, real news.

This overreaction by Castro for a small projected line of red letters on a black background across a building should be no cause of concern for a self proclaimed beloved leader. The fear here is the actual words that are running across the ticker that really disturbs him, the “truth” that scrolls across, that frightens him. The words of freedom that no individual in Cuba can freely express. I see Castro taking a big chance here, trying to take advantage of the United States in times where many countries are voicing contrary and negative opinions against American foreign policy. This misleading scheme to show the world how concern he is about his people is self-proving the whole idea of the ticker itself, “freedom of speech” and this is what Castro is exhibiting with the protest. Castro’s obsession to prevent the Cuban people to see any hope of change for the nation is very evident here and the whole world is watching.

Fidel cannot and will never escape from the inhumane acts that he has afflicted on Cuba and its inhabitants for the last “47 years”. With the building a wall of flags around himself, a sign of surrender, a sign of defeat, a sign of reckless abundant is stranded here in the open. Now, maybe the ill informed skeptics of the world who never had the interest, the knowledge or education, the obligation or the opportunity to read historical accounts about or the bad chance to experience Communism and Dictatorship ruled governments first hand, are going to realize that “Human Rights” is much more important than politics itself and that a dictatorship and communism always leads to hardship. Read about Lenon, Stalin, Hitler, Somoza, Idi Amin, Sadam, Kim Jong II, Prince Abdullah, Robert Mugabe, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Omar Al-Bashir, the Duvaliers, King Mswati III and of course Fidel Castro and see how many innocent people died during their reigns or are still dying at the present time.

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So for what reason then is Castro so determine to tear up a parking lot and place a cluster of flagpoles to obstruct the view of a so called meaningless imperialistic message. Castro is practicing freedom here, freedom to express his feelings and freedom to lead a protest of 1 million people. So let’s hear it from the other “12 MILLION” Cuban citizens. Let them speak their minds, let them organize their own protest and state their own opinions, instead of being subjected to their homes like slaves, like prisoners, during this fiasco. Fidel has been representing Cuba for the last 47 years only by brute force and has not established anything, only misery and pain. It’s a “One-Man Show” we have here and it’s a flop. Castro has been burning all the books that were written about democracy so then Cuban people would not learn the truth. While he burns these books, he is teaching the youth about Marx and Lenon and for the last 47 years. Communism is just a dream and it doesn’t work. Communism is an excuse to brainwash an individual and deprive them from their freedom so they could be controlled like animals.

Hurricane Katrina touched land at 175 miles/hour on August 29th with a fury of relentless destruction and thousands of survivors have become homeless. All the top cable-television media networks have begun to make assumptions and accusations of who is and who is not responsible for the deaths of thousands. In the middle of this historic tragedy the major cable networks, who are responsible to report “Facts”, are creating friction and discrediting the recovery response to the devastating areas. These powerful cable networks are CNN, MSNBC and FOX

It is my understanding that the media is suppose to report physical “Facts” concerning the relief efforts but all I am seeing and hearing is accusations and assumptions with absolutely no evidence to support them. These networks solely concentrate on hypnotizing the viewers with a continuous loop of brainwashing suggestions that create a controversial atmosphere. The present state of America  is very timid and unstable, so why create more havoc? America is in the middle of a controversial war in Iraq and struggling with terrorists around the world, why do the major news networks exhaust all their efforts on negativity towards the rescue of the devastated inhabitants of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and Georgia. As you can see on the animated radar loop above, this was a massive, category 5 hurricane which covered a lot of ground, destroyed a lot of property and more importantly, killed thousands of people. Why make this a political forum, we are not in need of this negativity right now. When viewing the cable news coverage on the hurricane and any media coverage report of this magnitude, that goes on for a long period time, we must be more objective. We have to see both sides of the story, we cannot jump to unsupportable conclusions, just because some well-combed man or some heavily-makeup women indicates to us with a confident reassuring voice, what is the truth and what isn’t.

These so-called experts host their own “Show”, they are just working to establish good ratings, no matter what it takes, they will try to stir things up to a point where they would suggest something or make a prediction of what is going to happen. These news agencies usually begin their accusations like this, “There is growing concern” or “Many sources are saying” or “There are many reports saying”, “Others are saying”, so they could place ideas in our heads, so we could imagine or actually believe it’s true, when there is no positive proof to prove it. CNN News is too liberal, scared and over supportive towards the democrats. Fox News is too conservative, overconfident and are ultra republican. MSNBC is stuck in the middle, they are stern but gentile, kind but rough. On the internet it is the same, all the reporters steer towards their respected agencies’ “opinions”.

These troublemaking news networks are destroying the integrity of reporting the news. The viewer is just interested in the “Facts”, that’s it, instead these news networks are “Creating” the news. They are very sneaky, if you noticed, they give you 10 minutes of good news and heartwarming stories and then they proceed to drop the “Bad News Bomb” on us. They make everyone paranoid and scared, people are loosing respect and trust of each other because of these networks. There is one reporter in particular who I mistrust the most and he works for CNN, he is Wolf Blitzer. He hosts a “Show” named “The Situation Room”, where he controversially reports the news. He creates and invents stories with absolutely no evidence, he is always turning and twisting things around. Closely analyze his report and you will see, you be the judge. His special report is seen around the world and he gives our country a bad name, sometimes I feel he is an enemy of the state. It’s bothersome to see this false reporting and false accusations made against my country. The American people must be more observant to all the reports they see on cable TV, remember they are more concern about the ratings than the responsibility they have to report “Real” facts. Let’s see some “Real” news reporting and let’s see more positive “Good” news, let’s get rid of the negativity.